condition, clearly shows St. Paul seated in a niche, holding the sword
and a book, and beneath, in the base, the bishop kneeling, having on
the dexter side the arms of the See, and on the sinister side the
bishop's personal arms (fig. 2). The arms of the See show two swords
placed in saltire, but the field, instead of being plain, is frettee,
with a dot placed in the centre of each mesh, and in this particular
only differs from the present shield, and this may be due merely to a
desire for ornament, and not intended to have any heraldic significance.

Although St. Paul, as represented both on the seals of the City and the
See, bore a sword, this seal of Bishop Ralph's was the first which
represented the symbol apart from the saint. No doubt, with this example
before them, the Corporation, when making their new seal in 1380, added
to their arms the symbol of the patron saint of their city.

The arms of the See underwent no change from the time of their earliest
appearance to the present day, and were reproduced in many parts of the
new cathedral at its rebuilding, and may be seen exquisitely carved by
Grinling Gibbons over the entrance to St. Dunstan's Chapel; but with the
arms of the City it was very different, and, in fact, they do not appear
even now to have reached finality. When, early in the seventeenth
century, the seal of 1380 became too worn for further use, a new one was
made, which reproduced on the obverse all the essential features of the
earlier one, the details being somewhat classicised, the shield in the
base was repeated, and the lions on each side crowned; but the reverse
showed a new departure, of which no record exists in the College of
Arms. This was the addition of a crest, which consisted of a cross set
between two dragons' wings displayed, placed on a peer's helmet. It will
be seen by reference to the example preserved in the British Museum,
taken from a deed of 1670, that the shield, which is placed couchee,
bears the present arms, and is surrounded by a tasselled mantling and a
motto, which reads, "Londini defende tuos deus optime cives" (fig. 3).
No such use of a peer's helmet has ever been officially allowed to any
town or city, and it can only be presumed that as the mayors of London
were always addressed as "My Lord," the assumption of a peer's helmet
might be permitted. But it may be remarked that, at least in recent
years, the helmet is sometimes displaced by a fur cap, the headgear of
t